housands of years in the future, when video game archaeologists unearth Final Fantasy III on the DS, it’s going to be difficult to place in the series’ evolutionary chain. Visually, the game looks like it belongs right between VIII and IX, but the gameplay style (not to mention the affixed Roman numeral) place it much earlier on the timeline. As good as the updated graphics look, make no mistake: this is an old-school adventure, with all of the pitfalls and payoffs that entails.
Despite a rewritten and expanded story (as compared to the 8-bit Japanese release), the plot is a pleasantly familiar excuse to put your characters in constant peril. Fighting your way through said peril is a delight thanks to the centerpiece of the game’s combat, the Job system. By leveling up your party in a variety of available classes (like Black Mage, Knight, and Ninja), you ensure that you’ll have the flexibility to adapt to any environment.
In one case, all of my guys were miniaturized, rendering their physical attacks useless. To cope, I just switched the characters over to their already-learned mage classes and nuked my way through the dungeon instead. It’s not a perfect system; I wish that new jobs were made available quicker, and that fewer of them were redundant (for instance, all other casting classes are basically pointless once you get the Sage). But it opens a lot of doors for different play styles, and gives you plenty of opportunities to experiment with job abilities – partly owing to the fact that you’ll spend a good chunk of time grinding levels once you hit specific areas or bosses.
For all of the battle system tweaks and new dialogue, FF III has something bigger in its favor that is more abstract: It captures the magic of a classic RPG. It doesn’t use “old-school” as an excuse for crummy design choices, but instead taps into time-tested traditions and makes them feel new. Providing you’re the type of person who doesn’t have any trouble going back and playing 8-bit games, Final Final III is an excellent handheld homage to a bygone era.